So I got matched up against another guard player, with 3 punishers, a shadowsword, creed, a relic of cadia, 5 primaris psykers, 2 quad mortars, a conscript squad and some infantry squads. And some ratlings. Search and destroy (corner) deployment.

At first I was really clever. I stuffed a ton of characters in the Vendetta to get the +1 on the roll off for first turn. I got first turn. My first mistake was not bringing in the conscripts immediately from outflank. There wasn't any fantastic placement for them because the flank where I really wanted them, some ratlings had blocked access. Meanwhile, my scouts killed 1 infantry squad and used it to avoid tank overwatch. My devastators came out of their transports and, with the mordions coming out of the valkyrie, took out the shadowsword, but I acted stupidly/instinctually and brought my devastators closer to their target, which also meant that they were closer to the punishers, and didn't last till turn 2. I should have also moved razorbacks to block line of sight to them from practically anywhere but where the shadowsword was.

So on his turn, I lost the devastators to the quad launchers and the punishers, the scouts (to smite), and most of the mordions, with the rest of them tied up by the conscript squad (which I needed to kill because I had marked it for death).

Then I flew the empty Valkyrie over enemy space rather than hover, which was a mistake on two counts: First of all, I needed to go for the kill at that point rather than try to keep a flyer that had already served its purpose alive. Secondly, it flew right into a bunch of smites followed by overlapping fields of fire from the punishers. I dropped my scions and they almost took out one of the punishers, but it survived and then I made the mistake of charging (defensive gunners plus double punisher cannon and heavy bolters equals needlessly dead squad for just one command point)

My tanks lasted a long time, but smite took its toll eventually, plus overlapping fields of fire. In the end I lost 17 to 15, since we had both achieved our objectives. It could have been 17-17 if I had decided to score turn by turn, or a solid win for me if I had kept the unit he had marked for death way in my corner, because between his mortars being way in the backfield and my alpha strike on his only other unit with range greater than 24, I could have outranged him all day...

Battle 1: Facing a cadian list: 2 stormswords, another baneblade variant, 6 mortar squads, a couple of primaris psykers and company commanders, 2 conscript squads, a couple of special weapon squads with plasma, a culexus... and Celestine. I got the first turn, despite him having less units.

My conscripts outflanked using the dagger. They popped up on one flank and, using one sabre's support, the FRFSRF order and the Mordion stratagem, flattened 20 conscripts. My devastators badly damaged one of the stormswords, and it was finished off using the hellfire rounds stratagem (possibly in round 2?). The Valkyrie delivered its plasma gunners and they targeted Celestine using the Mordion order, and killed her, but she came back elsewhere.

My opponent took out the Valkyrie and his mortars did a lot of damage here and there. My forward plasma forces were destroyed. The Cadian relic helped him. Celestine had charged back across the board and tore up an infantry squad. She was locked in with a sabre platform, so I couldn't shoot her or leave combat.

Worried about what she might do in one more turn (tear up a couple of devastator squads?), I charged her with my chapter master and whiffed big time, but used "honor the chapter" to swing again, and killed her, and got all 3 command points back! The next couple turns involved his tanks on one side of a ridge and my devastators on the other. A furious infantry battle with scions dropping to take out some mortars ensued to the sides of that ridge. We both had lots of firepower, and used it to take out most of anything that dared show itself. I won out by having some conscripts surviving on one objective on his side of the board, and using my captain with jump pack to run up and contest one objective that one of his super-heavies was sitting on. And holding my home objective with devastator squads. I won the maelstrom mission by 1 point too, and had all 3 tertiaries. Score: 19-3. We ran low on time mainly because he was fairly slow to roll and had to look up some things. I think we only got to my half of turn 5 after he ran out of time (at this tournament, each player gets 15 minutes out of the last half hour).

Note: lots of mortars rerolling everything can kill guardsmen like flies, but raven guard marines in cover are fairly well off.

Game 2:Facing 6 dreadnights, 1 culexus (again!), 3 acolytes, a company commander, and 3 scout sentinels. Again I got 1st turn, and spread out my front guys (conscripts, scouts, outflanking infantry squad) so that my opponent had limited deployment options for his dreadnights when they showed up. And my devastators hid behind some nice cover. So the drednights spent turn 1 mainly killing scouts and the infantry squad and the conscripts.On my turn 2, my devastators came out swinging and my flyer delivered its plasma, but my opponent rolled really really really well, and I took out just one dreadnight. His luck didn't hold up, though. He kept trying to kill my flyer, probably because it was right in front of him and keeping him from shooting my characters, but it survived. Since he had range problems and my devastators were all in cover (and could sometimes avoid being in his LOS, He had just one acolyte left on turn 5 and I tabled him turn 6. Final score: 17-3, but had he shot at my plane just a bit less, he'd have had 3 more points.

Game 3:Facing alaitoc and Ynnari. He got first turn and did a lot of damage, partly because he was misusing Tempest launchers, giving them 48" range. Someone at another table caught this on turn 2 or 3, and we sort tried to retcon. I'd played this guy before and it's just one of those honest mistakes. Dude. Dark reapers. Perfect against Ravenguard. I hit his large unit on my turn 1 after Yvraine and them ruined my devastators' day with two volleys that maybe aimed a bit too far, but even if they hadn't, dark reapers are great. I don't know why he fielded only three squads! I'd take more, with tempest launchers, and hide them out of sight. I ran up and recovered the relic but couldn't hit my tertiary targets and he won the maelstrom mission, so in the end he won narrowly, 11-9.

Notes: Gettting turn 1 is a Big Deal. I wonder if the winner of turn 1 will win all 5 games. I don't think I'll be satisfied that my list and tactics work unless I can win at least one game while going second.

You absolutely NEED to give those warriors Boneswords. Even if that means dropping a couple of Warriors. Warriors are better at melee than shooting, and (3 S4 attacks at AP-2 hitting on 2s thanks to the Prime's)If you're opponent manages to tie up even a single unit, he's taken a huge chunk of firepower out of your list. Make him pay for attacking you in melee.

Tactics vs. gunline: First of all, put the devastators in or behind the razorbacks, with both marine characters there to buff everyone. Put the sabre platforms behind the tanks, out of sight. On turn 1, the vehicles reveal the devastators and sabres. The Valkyrie will deliver two command squads and a company commander to point blank range, where he will probably order them to shoot at characters.

Tactics vs. physical rushing lists:Use the conscripts and infantry to physically block access to the marines for a turn. Their improved Mordion overwatch should help, too.

Tactics vs. balanced lists:The general idea is to do what Ravenguard does best: long range gunline. The many drops of this list gives me a chance to see where most opponents have deployed before deploying my own big guns, and play the range game if I have notably more firepower at 48". The infantry nature of my firepower lets me hide them out of sight on turn 1 in a way that stormravens can't.I can punish anyone who disperses his army across the field by hitting isolated things with scions, and I can kill key characters more reliably and quickly than snipers with my special plasma delivery. If my opponent has way too much anti-air firepower, I can always use the dagger to outflank some plasma, instead.

I'll be live at around 11:30am est on December 2nd to begin working on Saint Celestine live. If I have not completed her by the end of the stream I will take a break for the night and begin work again on her at 11:30am est December 3rd. Upon completion I will be giving Celestine to one lucky viewer!

In addition to the live painting giveaway I will also be giving away Grand Master Voldus, Inquisitor Greyfax, and a Rapid Vanguard set of terrain from Death Ray Designs along with some awesome-sauce stencils that they sent me!

Saint Celestine, Greyfax, and the DRD terrain will be raffle ticket giveaways. -Tickets will be purchased with credits that viewers have earned.-Credits are earned from following, watching, engaging in the chat, subscribing, and/or donating.

Voldus will be given to the top donor.

For every $20 in donations, 3 new subscribers, and/or 10 new followers I'll be tossing in some additional swag! During the live stream new followers will earn double points (200 instead of 100 credits!) and all subscribers during the stream will earn some additional bonus credits as well!.